Monta Ellis and the Warriors’ perennial All-Star hopes

It’s an exhibition game. I keep saying it, and not many Warriors fans ever agree with me. It’s AN EXHIBITION GAME that does not count in the standings.

Interestingly, Monta Ellis has given every indication that he thinks this way, too.

He’d be honored if he gets invited to participate in the All-Star Game in LA next month, and may deserve it, but he’s more interested in just winning games for theWarriors, and if the honors come, let them come because the Warriors are winning.

Perfect approach, by the way. Not the usual needy-Warriors approach.

He told this to Joe Lacob a few days ago. Lacob wants Ellis in the ASG, but the new owner should be impressed that Ellis is much more concerned with getting the Warriors closer to the playoff race.

(And after last night’s sprained ankle–which puts his status for tonight’s game in LA in question, but I always assume Ellis will play–Ellis might really be looking for a breather around the third week of February.)

Because the playoff race actually is important. Because getting better and better as a team, if the Warriors can pull that off, is truly important.

The NBA All-Star Game is just an exhibition. It does not count in the standings. It’s a commercial. A fun commercial most years, but still a commercial.

If you truly deserve to go, you will go. And you will deserve to go if you win many games and force the league to recognize what you’ve accomplished.

So I do not get the daily, hourly, moment-by-moment calculations and obsession so many people have with the All-Star roster.

! Does that help his All-Star candidacy? He MUST go in now! Wait, he’s hurt, will that hurt him in the AS consideration? I’ll boycott the NBA if he isn’t in!

Monta made a last-second shot

Too much. It’s too much about an exhibition game. It’s strong that Ellis is helping the team win, and that’s enough. NOT that those shots could get him to an exhibition game.

I understand Warriors fans want their players to get awards and recognition, and they haven’t had an All-Star since Sprewell in 1997.

But Warriors fans should mostly want their team to win games, period. The rest comes along with that, and the Warriors haven’t won much, so they haven’t gotten the recognition. As I’d put it: Recognition… for what?

Still… whether Ellis makes the All-Star means an incredible amount to many. From the emails and comments I get, it seems like the Monta All-Star fervor is occasionally more important to Warriors fans than the Warriors actually winning games.

And it has been this way for several years. Maybe the All-Star lust takes the place of thinking about winning games, because the Warriors haven’t done that winning thing very much over the last 16 years.

Let’s just throw out the names again, and warn you that things look a little difficult for Ellis’ candidacy in the loaded West once again…

–Guaranteed to be on the Western team, barring late injuries or trades:

* C/F Tim Duncan. (Yao will be voted in, but he’s injured.)

* F Dirk Nowitzki.

* F Kevin Durant.

* G Kobe Bryant.

* G Steve Nash.

* C/F Pau Gasol.

* G Chris Paul.

* G Deron Williams.

* F Carmelo Anthony.

That’s nine locks, with 3 roster spots to go.

–Probable picks for the squad, knowing how the coaches (who pick the reserves) will lean:

* Manu Ginobili.

* Blake Griffin. He’s getting in. If I know David Stern, Griffin is getting into this game. And the coaches will want to reward him for the way he has put life into the dead Clippers.

* Russell Westbrook.

That’s 12 right there. Already, Ellis is going to need a trade or an injury from one of the above-mentioned guys to get a spot.

-You can rattle off all the Ellis stats you want, but there is no way a Western coach is going to put him ahead of Ginobili, the best player on the league’s best team. No chance.

And there might be a strong case for Ellis to go in ahead of Westbrook, but Westbrook is the QB for a very strong OKC team, and defensively, he takes on some mighty assignments and does well. I think Westbrook is clearly ahead of Ellis in the coaches’ minds.

If there’s an injury or excused absence, here’s the next tier:

* Ellis.

* Kevin Love. Might get in just because coaches love his game, but the T-Wolves’ W-L is a major problem.

* Tony Parker.

* Eric Gordon. Another coaches’ favorite, and very parallel to Ellis in many ways, but I expect the Clippers to fade badly in their upcoming road-heavy schedule.

* Nene.

It will be very difficult for Ellis to get into this game, unless there’s a run of injuries, like there was last year, and he didn’t even get in last year.

I think he has a better shot this year, because I think he’s a better player this year, but again, why does it matter so much?

If he’s better, he’s better. Getting in or not getting into the ASG won’t change that reality.

And yes, speaking of things not mattering much and of injury replacements, remember that David Lee was an injury-replacement (for Allen Iverson!) on last year’s Eastern team, and that the Warriors–ROBERT ROWELL–were frantic about the importance of that status when they manuevered to acquire him and brag about him.

Lee’s not a bad player. But he was picked for that game because David Stern (who makes the injury-replacement picks) wanted a NY Knick in the game and because Lee is a very nice guy.

Being picked for the ASG didn’t make Lee one of the 12 best players in the East. It didn’t justify the Warriors paying him $80M and trading talent to acquire him.

It was an exhibition pick for an exhibition game. Means a lot for the PR. For making the playoffs? Not so much.